FDA Announces Changes to Sunscreen Rules

Preventing skin cancer and skin aging are the most important goals of using sunscreens, which should be applied to all exposed skin from an early age. From the FDA website, here is an important announcement and additional information: On June...

Biphosphonates, Osteoporosis, and Bone Fractures

X-ray of a fractured femur boneMy 86 year-old mother, who is generally in good health, slipped and fell recently and suffered a fractured femur. She was unfortunate to have suffered the accident, but had the good fortune to be discovered quick...

What to Do in the Case of Serious Food Allergies

An EpiPen (an epinephrine auto-injector)An allergic reaction in an outdoor setting can rapidly become a life-threatening emergency. While most of us think of food allergies as annoyances, they can be quite serious or even life threatening. Itch...

Snakebite and Snake Venom Information

Eastern coral snake, photo courtesy of Norman Benton, CC-BY-SA 3.0The Wilderness Medical Society held its annual meeting at Snowmass last summer July 23-28, 2010. There were numerous terrific educational sessions. In a series of posts, I am goi...

Artificial Breathing in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)

The compression stage of CPR.Recent guidelines recommend that cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) be done with compressions only, eliminating the requirement for the untrained rescuer to attempt to breathe for (ventilate) the victim. This effe...

Update on Vaccine Against Meningococcus

One of the most feared infectious diseases for outdoor travelers—particularly children and young adults—meningitis caused by the bacterium Neisseria meningitidis (meningococcus). The infection can appear in outbreaks, most commonly abroad, part...

Stopping the Bleeding

The Combat Application Tourniquet Dr. Brad Bennett provided an excellent workshop at the 2010 Wilderness Medical Society annual meeting in Snowmass, Colorado on how to manage severe bleeding, based on his work with the Committee on Tactical Com...

How to Avoid Needing Search and Rescue

This post is a continuation of the search and rescue (SAR) advice offered by Dr. Aaron Billin in a lecture he presented at the 2010 Wilderness Medical Society annual meeting. Dr. Billin recommends that anyone heading out to the backcountry s...

Smart Phones and Crisis Mapping

Crisis Map of Haiti, 2010, via the OpenStreetMap projectI’d like to use this post to mention a new concept for wilderness medicine that was introduced to me at the Wilderness Medical Society annual meeting this past summer in Snowmass by Satchi...

Rescue Essentials: The Outdoor Gear You Need

Wilderness medicine folks are often considered to be “gearheads.” That is, we love to try out new outdoor equipment, whether it is for our activities, search and rescue, or personal safety. Improvisation is important, but it’s better to have wh...

About the Author

Dr. Paul S. Auerbach is the world’s leading authority on wilderness medicine. Read more »

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